Wreath, vine, or spray of artificial leaves.



A. G. ROSSIG (II T. S. CRANE.

, VINE, OR SPRAY 0F ARTIFICIAL LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. I915.

WREATH Patented Oat. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

coLummA PLANOGRAPH IO-,WASHINGTON, n. c.

A. G. ROSSIG III T. S. CRANE.

WREATH, VINE, 0R SPRAY 0F ARTIFICIAL LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. I915.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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COLUMBIA PLANOHRAPH co., WASmNGTDN. D. c.

psi es Parana ARMOND G. ROSSIG, OF WEEI-IAWKEN, AND THOMAS S. CRANE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY; SAID CRANE ASSIGNOR TO SAID ROSFSIG.

WREATH, VINE, OR SPRAY OF ARTIFICIAL LEAVES Application filed March 6, 1915.

To all whom 'Z it may concern.

Be it known that we, ARMOND G. Rossie, of 7 6 Sterling avenue, VVeehawken, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, and THOMAS -S. CRANE, of 3 University Place, East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, both citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wreaths, Vines, or Sprays of Artificial Leaves, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to the manufacture of a wreath, vine or spray from artificial leaves, the shanks or stems of; which are at the present time, by a so-ca'lled branching machine, readily fastened by a wrapping of thread or paper in a successive series to a continuous wire which will be termed a base-wire, herein, as all the other parts are attached thereto.

The object of the invention is partly, to furnish an improved means of holding the leaves in a fixed relation to the base-wire or to one another, and partly, to produce the effect of leaf-groups by superposing, upon a composite leaf, of special form, design or character, of a small leaf representing one element of the composite leaf. Thus, if the composite leaf is formed of a number of holly leaves having sharp points, the superposed leaf is also of holly design having sharp points, and lies over the junction lines upon the composite leaf so as to mask them in great part. By the present invention, these effects are produced without imparting a stiff and artificial appearance to the structure, whether the base-wire be. stretched out to form a spray or vine, or whether it be formed into a closed ring on which the leaves overlap one another successively, to form a wreath.

The means for holding the leaves in a fixed relation, consists of a locking wire projected from the base-wire at a convenient point to engage the free end of the leaf, and to lock with the same by means of an enlargement,

as one or more berries; or. to bebent or hooked backward over the outer surface of the leaf. Such a wire retains firmly anyposition in which it may be bent or adjusted, and thus differs from the cords which have heretofore been used in artificial wreaths to secure berries to the base-wire or frame of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 26, 1915.

Serial No. 12,504.

the wreath, and which berries, when the cord is fitted a notch upon the margin of the leaf, serve in an imperfect manner to hold the leaf in the desired position. By substituting wire shanks for the cords, the berries may be held firmly in such a position as to lock the free portion of the leaf positively to the base-wire, or the bent wires alone may afford such a positive engagement. In the present invention, such locking may be effected, without'the employment of berries or flowers, by perforating the composite leaf near its tip, and attaching a wire to the base in such a position as to pass through said perforation, andbe bent over the outer side of the leaf, which positively locks the leaf to the base-wire. The wire, with or without berries, may thus serve to hold the leaf positively in position, andif provided with berrics the perforation may be shaped so as to form a. flexible flap at one or both sides of the hole, which flap yields when the berries are pushed through the hole, and thereafter embrace the wire-shanks of the berries so as to hold the leaf firmly in place. A branching machine is operated to wind a continu- Quswrapping upon the base-wire, and the shank or stem of a composite leaf and of a single leaf and of the locking wire with or without berries or blossoms, may all three be,

applied to the base-wire at the same point -and all secured thereto simultaneously by the wrapping. These groups of stems are so spaced upon the base-wire, that the leaves successively overlap one another upon the base-wire, the locking wire upon each base thus comingin proximity to the free edge of the succeeding leaf, with which it may be engaged in any suitable manner to lock it in place. By such positive locking engage ment of the leaves to the base-wire, they are held securely upon the same and enable the series of leaves to be used as a vine or a spray without danger of the leaves being displaced. When the wire is bent into a circle to form a wreath, the wreath retains its shape permanently and is not distorted or injured by the handling, which inevitably arises in the sale and packing of the articles.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure 1 represents a wreath provided .with the improvements; Fig. 2 represents,

upon a larger scale, a portion of the basewire with one leaf secured thereon; Flg. 3

through the perforation.

shows a section taken upon Fig. 2 along the line of the base-wire; Fig. 4 shows a basewire with three stems secured thereto at the same point, one for a composite leaf, one'for a single leaf, and one of them upon the locking wire, which is shown hooked backward to positively engage the free portion of the preceding leaf; and Fig. 5 shows the rear side of one of the single leaves of Fig. 1.

In Fig." 1, the composite leaves have their four members a, a, a a made integral with one another, but are distinguished from one another by embossed lines showing margins and veins. The leaf is held to the base-wire b by a shank c which is extended into a rib 0 upon the back of the composite leaf.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a locking wire or wires (Z is secured by the wrapping b with the stem of the composite leaf and projected sufficiently to carry berries d, which are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 inserted through the leaves upon the stems of the preceding leaves brings the locking wire into a desirable position to hold the free edge of the leaf in place. By forming the perforation with flaps, it permits the passage of berries without leaving an open hole in the leaf. A separate single leaf fris shown lying apparently loose upon the face of each composite leaf, having its stem g secured to the base-wire with the stem of the composite leaf and the shank of the locking wire, such arrangement being most suitable for fastening these parts together in a branching machine.

The locking wire does not require any enlargement upon its outer end to make it an effective locking agent, although in Figs. 1,

2 and 3 two of such wires d are shown extended through the slit 6 and one of them in Fig. 3 bent backwardly with berries J, toward the other pair of berries in the same figure, thus hooking over the outer surface of the composite leaf lettered a, and therefore capable of holding it in place irrespective of any enlargement upon its end. The

"other berry in that group is shown bent in the opposite direction, that is toward the free edge of the leaf, and would be equally effective to hold such free edge firmly; as

the wire-shank of the berry is rigid and retains any position in which it may be bent. Berries d are also shown with their wires bent backwardly at two places in the upper part of Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 illustrates a locking wire without any berry or other enlargement, and shows the stems 0 and g secured to the base-wire b with a locking wire cl having no enlargement upon the end, but such end bent backwardly at d to hook over the outer surface of the composite leaf as already described. It is immaterial how the single leaf is connected to the composite leaf so as to produce a semblance to a group of wholly loose leaves.

Fig. 5 shows a stem or shank 9 upon the single leaf by which it may be secured to the base-wire by the wrapping Z), but the two leaves may be secured together at their bases by clenched staples it, as indicated in Fig. 2. The single leaf performs the same function however it may be connected to the composite leaf.

From the above description it will be understood that a locking wire, whether bent merely to hook upon the leaf or extend through a perforation in the same, and whether or not it is provided with any enlargement or berry upon its end, is capable of holding a leaf securely in position upon the base-wire.

Prior to the present invention, it was common to form an artificial wreath of composite leaves solely, mounted and overlapped upon one another upon a basewire; but without any single leaf which by its independence of the composite leaf and its concealment of the junction of the several parts of the composite leaf, produces therewith the appearance of a group of leaves, thus giving the structure a more natural and ornamental character.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

1. The combination, with a base-wire, of a series of composite leaves each having a perforation contiguous to the line of the base-wire, and a locking wire secured to the base wire and extended through such perforation, and bent laterally over the outer side of the leaf, and locking the leaf positively in a fixed relation to the base-wire.

2. The combination, with a base-wire, of a series of leaves each having a perforation contiguous to the line of the base-wire, and a locking wire secured to the base-wire and carrying an enlargement, as a berry, adapted to pass through such perforation, and bent laterally over the outer side ofthe leaf, and thus looking it positively to the base-wire.

3. The combination, with a base-wire, of a series of leaves each having a perforation with flexible flap at the side of the same, a locking wire secured to the base-wire and carrying an enlargement, as a blossom or berry, adapted to pass through the said perforation by flexing the said flap.

1. The combination, with a base-wire, of a series of leaves each having a perforation with flexible flap at the side of the same, a

plurality of locking wires secured to the base-wire each carrying a berry adapted to pass through the said perforation by flexing the said flap.

The combination, with the base-Wire, of a series of composite leaves attached thereto and each embossed to imitate toothed leaves like holly with junction lines between them and a perforation near the tip of the composite leaf, and each leaf overlapping the shank of the succeeding leaf in the series, a locking-Wire attached to the shank of each leaf, and passed through the perforation of the overlapping leaf, and bent laterally thereon, and the shank of each leaf having joined therewith the shank of a separate loose leaf, similarly toothed, and arranged to overlap the junction lines on the composite leaf, and producing therewith, by its identity of character, the semblance of a group of wholly loose leaves.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARMOND G. ROSSIG. THOMAS S. CRANE.

Witnesses I1. LEE, JAMES W. GREENBOW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

